Ok everyone, lets play a game. I'm figuring Kyle's the only one who'll respond to this, but what's everyone's 5 favorite albums of 2009 (if you can't think of 5 from 2009 then you can go back to 2008 but try to keep it as recent as possible.

MY 5:

1. Japandroids : Post-NothingThis Year's favorite by far, it's essetnially an ode to youth and living life to the fullest and saying "fuck it". With lyrics like these ( http://lyricwiki.org/Japandroids:Young_Hearts_Spark_Fire), you know it's awesome.

2. J Dilla (posthumous) : Jay Stay PaidObviously, my second favorite. After Dilla's death from a blood disorder (I think that's what it was), people started to discover just exactly how much this guy recorded. His music is awesome, and this album is no different. Mixed py Pete Rock and Dilla's own mother, this is the highlight of all the posthumous releases people have been pushing to honor the fallen DJ.

3. Cymbals Eat Guitars : Why There Are MountainsIn much the same way that Post-Nothing is indescribably awesome because it tells the story of narcissistic and nihilistic youth, Why There Are Mountains is great because while there are tons of albums that make you sad, and almost as many to make you happy, making a truly great album to listen to on road trips is becoming something of a lost art. And this is just that, one of the great indie road trip albums.

4. ISIS : Wavering RadiantThis is what it means to be good metal music. If you aren't sure wether you like metal or not listen to this, if you like it, you might like metal, but it is almost entirely inconcievable to hate this and still call yourself a metal fan. ISIS is something like what would happen if Pink Floyd and Slayer had a baby together.

5. Grizzly Bear : VeckatimestGrizzly Bear has always been on the edge of obsessiveness about their music, and it's really on display here. Every single second of this album sounds like it was labored over and tweaked countless times until it felt perfect. In most people's hands, the pursuit of perfection ruins music, but not Grizzly Bear, they manage to make it work, it just feels perfect. That being said, they aren't supermen, flaws are what gives humanity to music, and they aren't exempt from that rule. It might be perfect, but that perfection takes a lot of personality out of the music.

Honorable Mention. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart : The Pains of Being Pure at HeartIt's just good solid pop music.

Okay, the thread died, so I'm going to recommend something else to everyone.

The Thermals : The Body, The Blood, The MachineThere is pretty much no better "fuck you, God" album out there in the world. Or if there is I sure as hell haven't found it, and if you do, let me know. Kyle will love this one.

I got some stupid news today. Paramore is going to be opening for No Doubt on their reunion tour. This is a real shame because I really thought that with careful direction and some experience, Paramore could actually be pretty good. Riot showed promise, but if this is the kind of shit Hayley is, presumably, looking up to/aspiring towards, then I've lost all hope.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis are set to do the score to another movie. The dynamic dou have already done The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Now they've signed on for The Girls of Phnom Penh, which, as I understand it, is about Cambodia's Virginity trade.

Great News:

In other, but completely fantastic new, emo-gods Sunny Day Real Estate have gotten back together! They broke up both in 1995 and in 2001 with various members going to work with Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters (Interesting side note: Dave Grohl was originally with Nirvana), but this reunion will have all 4 original members unlike the previous reunion.

Bad News:

The band Dirty Projectors got in a car wreck today, and their promoter said that one of them was in "very serious condition". Then why is this only bad news, you ask, a reasonable question considering how purely sublime their newest album Bitte Orca was. Well, it's because the promoter's statement was... well... a lie. As of right now, the reported news is that they have all been discharged from the hospital. This is breaking news, however, so stick with it.

Terrible news:

Former Wilco member Jay Bennett was found dead today with the coroner's verdict being a fentanyl overdose.

Once upon a time there was a band called Neutral Milk Hotel, and their lead singer, he read The Diary of Anne Frank. This book moved him to tears, beyond just that, to deep, unabashed agony. He was so moved, that he decided that his band's next album would be based loosely on the book. That was 1998.

Fastforward eleven years.

I hear the album for the first time after hearing pretty consistently that it's one of the best albums of all time. I hate it. The lyrics sound like nonsense. The lead singer's voice is whiney and broken sounding. It has an air of urgency, like it's trying to tell you a horror story that you've heard a million times before. So many times that, regardless of the horror of the story, we just don't care.

Well I'm making this post to formally declare that I have changed my mind. Thus follows an edited version of the Skype chat which partially lead to this admission

I don't find this album to be overrated anymore.I mean, the more I listen to it without expecting to hate it, the more I fall in love.And strangely, it isn't that I even like the songs that much, it's just that I kinda understand why they're so perfect.I used to think that the yelling was just poor song craftsmanship and yelling for yelling's sake.But now when I hear it, I just hear Mangum trying with every fiber of his being to get out everything he's trying to say.It's like he's suffering with the pain of trying to make other people share his experiences.The album is inspired by the diary of Anne Frank, as I have already told you.And when people hear how moved he was by the book everyone else did for a 6th grade book report, they feel almost embarassed for him.And his screams are the noises he makes while exerting himself as much as he is physically capable of doing to try ang give people the same feeling he had, to make them understand that they are the ones who should be embarassed, not him.Just take a second to think about how difficult it is to transfer an emotion.Many people try it, but they try it knowing that it's impossible, and because they do, they give up and they don't even try as hard as they can in the first place.Mangum sees the absolute injustice of people's reactions to his reaction and sets out to make people feel his feelings even if it kills him.You may be thinking, yes, that's all well and good, but I listen to music to make my ears happy, and this screaming doesn't.I understand that.However, understanding the goal of a certain musical choice makes it change the way your ears percieve it.It doesn't work in a typical sense, it isn't beautiful to listen to, normally speaking, but the beauty of the sound made by what is essentially, an exhausted soul expending all of its energy to impart understanding to you even when it has every reason to believe that its goal is impossible, makes his screaming work on an entirely different level.I mean, I understand his screaming hurts your ears, but I cannot even put into words the beauty of that pain that he is feeling.I just can't imagine the kind of frustration he must have felt at his utter inability, as a human being, to explain himself in a way that made people not only understand, but experience for themselves his anguish.And the fact that I can't understand means he failed.And if this is how great failure sounds, success might kill me.

I'm awake soYou better feed me nowI won't slow downOnce we have left this townRhymes and riddlesI'm still sleepy soYou must hurryPlease take your seatsYou'll stay with meBe with meI'll be with youI'll be with you

No one really knows the pain I'm going throughMy final ride is almost doneThe world has moved on now it's time to goMy final ride is almost done

And in completely insane news, it's being reported that Thom York, the lead singer of arguably the second most critically acclaimed band of all time, Radiohead, is interested in doing work on the soundtrack of the new Twilight movie. WAT? You read that right, he hasn't been recruited or forced into this dubious honor, he is actively pursuing it HIMSELF. I fucking love Radiohead, and I can't even begin to imagine what York is thinking.

The Mercury Award's list of finalists has been announced. For those who don't know, The Mercury Award is essentially a bunch of Brits getting together and deciding what the best British album of the year was. It's a really prestigious award, and you get MASSIVE bragging rights if you win.